Strategies for the Coupling of Autonomous Control and Central Planning: Evaluation of Strategies Using Logistic Objectives Achievement and Planning Adherence

Autonomous control methods are a promising approach for manufacturing companies to cope with dynamic influences. An important issue for the acceptance of autonomous control is to provide sufficient planning accuracy. Therefore, transferring autonomous control into practical application requires the harmonization of autonomous control with commonly used, central planning methods. This paper introduces coupling strategies with different degrees of adherence to planning parameters for the harmonization of central planning and autonomous control. The simulation based evaluation considers both logistic objectives achievement and the adherence to predefined planning parameters. Besides varying the level of dynamic influences, the simulation study also analyzes the impact of production schedules with different levels of temporal flexibility by inserting additional idle time into the schedule. The results serve as a guideline for the selection of suitable coupling strategies depending on dynamic influences and user specific requirements to the strategies´ performance.